Support is requested for a RISE Program at New Mexico State University. Five student development activities will provide opportunities for minority undergraduate and graduate students to gain experience and training in a wide variety of biomedical research projects carried out in several departments spanning two colleges in the university. Support is also sought for group research training in the context of a search for clinically relevant chemicals in traditionally medicinal plants of the Southwestern US. In addition, the proposal requests funding for a specialty course on cell and molecular techniques needed for student research in RISE laboratories, for workshops on applying to and succeeding in graduate school, including university teaching, and for workshops to enhance success in Organic Chemistry. A faculty developmental component will significantly enhance the skills and knowledge of six minority faculty members, and will improve their laboratories through the acquisition of equipment required to carry out successful, competitive research in their disciplines. This will enhance their abilities as research trainers and mentors for RISE students and will increase the likelihood that students working in their laboratories will do successful research. Students will be admitted late in their second or early in their third year at the university and will spend part or all of one summer in the laboratory of an off campus colleague learning new techniques and research approaches, as well as forming contacts that may help them when applying to graduate school. It is anticipated that these activities will significantly improve the quantity and quality of undergraduate research experiences, the numbers of undergraduates who go on to graduate programs in biomedical disciplines, and the numbers of Ph.D.s conferred on students who participate in the NMSU RISE Program.